


Does the Night Sky Know Everything?

by RaspberryHeaven



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Angst, Dia is bad at feelings, F/F, Forbidden Love, Guilt, Hanakotoba | Japanese Flower Language, Inspired by a CYaRon song, Kissing, Love Confessions, Riko's Manga Collection, Sister-Sister Relationship, happy/hopeful ending, they just love each other so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26299294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaspberryHeaven/pseuds/RaspberryHeaven
Summary: "She doesn't shine as brightly as you," Dia said, without thinking."R-really? B-but, Ruby's not so good at singing and dancing, and—""You shine," Dia repeated firmly. "You light up, and everyone wants to rush the stage and protect you. I don't notice so much when we perform together, but when you are with CYaRon, you are... like a  flower. A little pink hibiscus, sparkling with dew.""Oh." Ruby twisted to look up at her, and shewasshining, glowing with her own light. "I love hibiscus. What do they mean?""If you hadn't quit flower arranging classes, you'd know," Dia said sternly. "Gentleness.""Oh." Ruby turned again, and stared at the television. Dia was so used to knowing what Ruby felt at all times, her sister was so transparent with her feelings, but she had no idea now, and the thought scared her. She tightened her grasp on Ruby's waist, comforting herself.
Relationships: Kurosawa Dia/Kurosawa Ruby
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17
Collections: RelationShipping 2020





	Does the Night Sky Know Everything?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rubylily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubylily/gifts).



> The soundtrack for this story is _Yozora wa Nandemo Shitteru no? | Does the Night sky know everything?_ While it is a CYaRon song, it sounds to me more like something from Dia's point of view.
> 
> Rubylily, I hope so much you enjoy.

Dia sat on the concrete steps, letting the breeze over the sea soothe her hot cheeks. She wasn't crying, she told herself fiercely, even though her eyes burned. There was no reason to shed tears.

She didn't hear Mari and Kanan approach, but it seemed right that they made their way quietly beside her. Kanan leaned against the iron railings, and Mari moved further down onto the beach, gazing across the water. For a while none of them spoke, and Dia determinedly didn't sniffle.

"Don't you think you're being a little hard on Ruby lately?" Kanan said at last, her tone light. "I heard she was late to homeroom today with her skirt unpressed, and the teacher made her stand in the hallway until she stopped crying."

"I tried to wake her three times, and each time she just squeaked and turned over. Besides, how did you know? Did Ruby snitch? Or Maru?"

Mari turned back from the water a little. "Yoshiko tells Riko everything, and she tells Chika and You, and You tells Kanan. Who tells me." She smiled, glittering and brilliant in the moonlight.

Dia sniffed, trying hard not to feel like all of Aquors was ganging up on her. "How is Ruby supposed to learn if she relies on me for everything? You saw what she was like over summer, she and Maru left everything to the last day! Ruby needs to learn to work hard and be responsible."

Kanan grinned. "She's fifteen."

"I got myself to school on time at fifteen! I always managed an hour's study in the garden before breakfast! Ruby is too careless and irresponsible. I won't be here to look after her next year."

"She wears herself out practicing and making costumes," Mari said reprovingly. "I think Ruby has been working very hard at being a school idol."

"She doesn't exercise enough and her voice is still too wavering," Dia said, although part of her mind was insisting, _Her voice is so cute and pure, it's the most adorable in the group._ ""

She could feel her friends exchanging looks over her head. "Dia, whatever's wrong, you can talk to us. You know that?" Mari said.

"There's nothing wrong."

"All right." Mari turned and came and sat on the steps behind her, wrapping her arms around Dia's shoulders in a hug, and Kanan moved to sit and lean on them both. The third years sat together in a close group, and neither of the others mentioned anything if Dia's cheeks were wet. "When you're ready."

She would never be ready. Some things didn't bear talking about. Like Ruby, curled up on her bed, sobbing. Like the manga under Ruby's bed.

_\-- Where did you get them?_

\-- _From Riko. I only borrowed them. They're just silly love stories._ Ruby had been so frightened, her eyes so wide. Perhaps it had been that Dia's temper was too sharp. Ruby had always been easily intimidated when scolded. No, no, that wasn't it. Ruby had been _guilty_. She had known she had been doing something wrong by reading those perverted, terrible stories.

Just like Dia knew she had done something wrong when she had glanced over them when alone, telling herself it was just so that she knew exactly what to tell Riko off for, and had felt her stomach twist into liquid fire, a strange fluttering feeling settling between her legs, a terrible restlessness moving her limbs. It was not that the manga was explicit, but...

Why would Riko have a manga compilation about sisters in love in any case? Why more importantly, would Ruby have it? No wonder she had hidden it. And she couldn't, Dia realised, actually scold Riko about it at all. She could not admit to having read it, to being angry that Ruby had it. She couldn't risk the way she would blush and stammer.

 _Big sister, I love you passionately._ The big sisters in the stories had been sweet and understanding. They hadn't scolded their little sisters or been impatient with them. They had just loved them. And their little sisters had... had...

Dia leaned her head back on Kanan's chest and felt Mari snuggle into her side, surrounded by love from her dearest friends, and had never felt so alone.

* * *

Dia was determined to be gentler when she got back. Her sweet Ruby. She would talk to her, explain that she had been clumsy and timid when she was little, was still shy, but had to be strong for Ruby's sake, and to live up to their parents' expectations. When she was gone Ruby would have to stand on her own feet, and Dia would never sleep a wink if she worried the whole time about her.

She wouldn't mention the manga. She would discreetly return it to Rico. Not face-to-face, she couldn't stand Rico knowing she had seen it. All Yoshiko's fault, encouraging a good girl like Rico to think of herself as a fallen angel. She even had Ruby pretending to be a demon. They shouldn't let Yoshiko get away with it so much.

Dia forgot all her resolutions when she saw Ruby, snug in pink pyjamas, and watching a variety show.

"Where are Mother and Father?"

Ruby started. "Oh! They have a business dinner. So I thought I'd watch—"

"Bzzzpt! You mustn't watch television unless it's the news. You know that's the rule. Have you even done your homework?"

She expected Ruby to tear up and stammer, but instead her sister turned pleading eyes to her. "But some of my favourite idols are on it. It's research. Dia—Dia, we used to learn about idols together. Won't you watch with Ruby?" Her hair was down around her shoulders, twin tails released, and her eyes were so wide, so soft, that Dia couldn't stand it. They would be parted so soon. And Ruby had clearly forgiven her for her cruelty.

"Just for a little while."

Ruby's face lit up like the sun, and she reached out an arm. Incapable of resisting, Dia went to settle by her, let Ruby tuck her head into her shoulder and cuddle close. After all, she'd just let Mari and Kanan hold her. Couldn't she hold her own sister? Ruby was so soft and warm that it sent a fluttering in Dia's heart.

They were giggling before they knew it, Dia criticising the idol performance, Ruby collapsing in delight at the mistakes they made. "Oh, no, she fell off! But you can tell she's a true idol," Ruby added, as the unfortunate girl climbed out of the pool. "Look at her, she's still shining."

"She doesn't shine so much as you," Dia said, without thinking.

"R-really? B-but, Ruby's not so good at singing and dancing, and—"

"You shine," Dia repeated firmly. "You light up, and everyone wants to rush the stage and protect you. I don't notice so much when we perform together, but when you are with CYaRon, you are... like a flower. A little pink hibiscus, sparkling with dew."

" _Oh._ " Ruby twisted to look up at her, and she _was_ shining, glowing with her own light. "I love hibiscus. What do they mean?"

"If you hadn't quit flower arranging classes, you'd know," Dia said sternly. "Gentleness."

"Oh." Ruby turned again, and stared at the television. Dia was so used to knowing what Ruby felt at all times, her sister was so transparent with her feelings, but she had no idea now, and the thought scared her. She tightened her grasp on Ruby's waist, comforting herself. They were still together for now, and they were friends again. "What flower would you be?"

"Probably a hydrangea," Dia said bitterly. Pride. Her downfall. If she was less proud, she would be easier to get along with, easier to love, easier to make friends with. The younger girls would call her Dia-chan, and Ruby would never be nervous with her. She wouldn't bother everyone with her striving for perfection.

"Hydrangeas are very beautiful flowers," Ruby said happily. Dia kissed the top of her head, and they were quiet. Eventually Dia realised that Ruby had gone to sleep, and bullied her into waking and brushing her teeth and washing her face, and it was all right. It was fine. Ruby would learn to look after herself, and she'd probably be better off without Dia to lean on.

And her time at university would be enough to let whatever strangeness had possessed them both to go away.

* * *

Dia shoved the book into Riko's locker and endeavoured to forget it, bury herself in work and practice and performance. But it was there, always. Why had Ruby chosen _that_ book? What did she think, what did she feel? She caught herself watching Ruby too much at practice, the way she tried so hard. More like Dia than she had realised, it struck her with a pang. The softness of her skin and hair, the way her clear eyes sparkled and her cheeks flushed at any praise. The hidden sharpness to her, the way she teased Yoshiko, her pretty face bright with mischief.

Did Ruby know that Dia loved her more than anything or anyone on Earth? Or think of her as a sharp-tongued big sister, a bully and a nag?

Why the book?

Before she fell asleep, Dia was tormented with thought of how sweet Ruby's waist would feel gathered in her hands, warm and soft and small through her dress. Thoughts of smooth pale skin against her tongue, delicate eyelids fluttering under her lips, rosy lips raised to hers. _Finger under her chin, tilt her head up_.

The images became confused and desperate and she ached, she ached in her head and heart and between her legs, felt her pulse thrum there, felt herself become wet. _No,_ she told herself, _no._ She thought of the sweet little sounds Ruby would make, imagined her saying _I love you, Dia._ Not "big sister". _Dia._

_I want you._

She couldn't get away to university too soon. She could focus on her studies. Meet someone, maybe. Some boy with a good background and career and make herself a suitable marriage. Oh, that made her laugh. A girl, then. A serious, responsible girl like herself. They could go somewhere where they could marry, and Mari and Kanan would be her bridesmaids, and her bride would wear a Western silk gown, her face misted by veil. Dia would draw aside the veil and her bride would look up at her with tender, shining eyes, tilted down at the corners, a shy smile full of joy...

She began to cry deep, racking sobs. No wedding. No one there. No one would support her in love with her her sister. A crime, illegal, wrong. If she could only erase those images from her mind.

Everything felt wrong, now. Sitting beside Ruby. Their hands brushing when they walked. Everything tainted by the thought, _Does she feel the same way?_ And of course she didn't. Rico read those books and she didn't have a sister. She was an elegant, reserved girl, despite her odd friendship with Yoshiko. The kind of girl that Dia could imagine being with. Fantasy wasn't reality. DIdn't Dia devour romance novels herself?

On the way home from school the next day and Ruby smiled up at her, chattering about her plans to refurbish one of Dia's costumes. She was sunshine and beauty and goodness and Dia _wanted_. She pulled away.

"D-did Ruby do something wrong?"

 _Of course you didn't, of course you didn't,_ Dia wanted to say. "Go to Hanamaru's," she said instead. "I don't have time for you today."

She watched the glow fade from Ruby's face, as if she had wiped it off. Those big eyes filled with tears, and sobs began to rise. All Dia wanted to do was reach out and comfort her, hold her close, apologise, speak gently, but she would cry too, she knew it, cry and maybe kiss her and everything would be ruined between them. She watched Ruby take an uncertain step backwards, and run away.

She was lying face down on her bed when Ruby came to see her. "Sorry to disturb you, but Ruby has been making you something. I need you to see."

Dia reached out and took it, as Ruby anxiously dropped to the bed next to her. An embroidered purse, sewn in Ruby's neat little stitches. A hydrangea in the centre, and around it clustering other flowers. Forget-me-nots, red roses, white roses, red tulips, yellow camellias. A story of one-sided love and longing. Undeniably romantic. Little hibiscus poking through. But it was the cactus flower Dia drew her thumb slowly over, feeling the texture of the threads. _Sexual passion._

"I know it's wrong to confess. You're my sister. But I couldn't bear you to leave and not _know_. Don't be angry. You don't have to return Ruby's feelings, just please accept them."

Dia was silent, and Ruby broke. Her eyes filled with tears and she got up, trying to stumbled away, to escape...

Dia's hand closed over her wrist.

The stayed silent and unmoving for a while, Ruby's wrist in Dia's grasp, frozen, unable to speak. Long moments when the pulse rushed in Dia's ears.

"I accept your feelings." Her voice sounded rough in her own ears.

"You don't hate me?"

"I love you more than anyone in the world. I _love_ you. I love you."

"The same?" Ruby whispered.

"The same."

They were still frozen, but Dia's grasp loosened and Ruby's hand moved, so instead of gripping her wrist they were holding hands, tight, so tight. The contact sent possessiveness rearing in Dia's heart. *Mine, mine, she is _mine_ , she loves me...*

"What are we going to do?" Ruby asked.

Dia had no answers. No one would accept it if she said "My sister is the one I love." Their family, their friends, all lost if they knew. She could still say to Ruby, _no, you misunderstood, how could you be so silly?_ But Ruby was looking at her with a face like a flower, full of love and wonder, and she wanted to kiss her so much, that her hand pulled Ruby down and closer without even willing it.

Ruby's lips were like satin, like flowers, like sunshine, and Dia gasped against them, knowing this was a moment that couldn't be taken back. _My sister, my sister... My pure, beautiful little sister._ "I can't take advantage of you. I'll ruin your life."

"I'm not a baby. I know," Ruby said. "I've cried and cried. I can't let you go away without knowing. I'll wait, I'll wait, but if you found someone else... I could never love anyone like I love you," Ruby said, pressing close and talking against her lips, and Dia thought, _she shines, she shines_. "My clever, beautiful, perfect sister who looks after me. Who loves me even if I don't deserve it."

Dia pulled her even closer, smothered her face with kisses. "I'm the one who don't deserve you, Ruby." Ruby was so sweet, and she was this spiky creature who couldn't resist temptation.

"Ruby will make you understand how wonderful you are if it takes her forever. Don't forget Ruby."

"Never," Dia said.

"Two years and I'll join you. Ruby will work hard. I love you." Ruby snuggled close, her warm lovely form against Dia's. "Don't be afraid. Ruby will be strong for you."

And that was it, Dia realised, and her pain and fear didn't matter so much. She'd been telling herself Ruby was weak, needed protection, but perhaps it was Dia who was weak, and earnest, true Ruby had the strength to face her feelings. Would be strong for them both.

She bent her head to kiss Ruby again, and this time let her lips part, her tongue just gently taste Ruby's, and the strength of what went through her shook her. *We'll be strong for each other," she thought, as Ruby melted into her arms just perfectly, her mouth warm and wet and wanting. _We complete each other._

There were tears on both their faces, but she was happy, she was happy, and she could feel Ruby's joy. Love was everything. "It's okay, it will all be okay," they whispered to each other, and their mouths found each other's again and again, and they were together.

> _Even though I know we love each other, sometimes we disagree_  
>  _I guess it really was my fault._  
>  _I shouldn't have lost my temper_  
>  _Now I just want to hug you softly._  
>  _Rather than just offer words of comfort, I want to gently pat your back_  
>  _Hug you and whisper 'it's okay'_  
>  _Took me long enough._


End file.
